Oxford Commercial Property Consultancy News

Flexible workspace in the world’s leading global cities can offer a significant discount on the total costs of occupation in conventional office space, according to research from the Instant Group.

According to the recent article published by Costar.com it revealed that the recent data from Cushman & Wakefield cites Hong Kong as the most expensive place to rent office space in the world. But to rent a desk in a co-working space works out almost three times cheaper in Hong Kong and almost two times less expensive in London, Instant argues.

According to the data, the "cost of occupying a desk in Hong Kong under a traditional lease arrangement is US$27,432 per year".

Instant writes: "This is nearly twice the amount of any other city in Asia and more than 18% more than in London, its nearest global competitor. Instant’s proprietary data, collated from more than 20 years of flexible workspace listings, shows that in comparison, it costs just US$7,607 per year to rent a desk in a co-working or serviced office space, offering businesses a discount of 73%."

In London the average cost of renting a flexible workspace is US$11,931 a year, more than half the cost (47% cheaper) than the total cost of US$22,631 for conventional space, Intant says.

It adds: "The number of flexible workspaces in London grew by 20% during 2017 with new centres opening up across the capital. This growth ensured that the market remained highly competitive, particularly compared to conventional space where vacancy rates are at an all-time low and space is at a premium."

John Duckworth, Managing Director of the Instant Group EMEA, said: “It is a commonly held misperception that flexible space, which offers shorter contract lengths and fully serviced offerings, can prove to be a more expensive proposition for a business. But both the market data and our experience with clients entering the local market, flex space is proving to be a viable, low-cost alternative.

“In London, we have one of the most mature markets for flexible workspace but it is still evolving rapidly and in the last two years in particular we have seen a real diversity in the type of companies using this space and a wider recognition of its ability to provide a viable long-term solution.”

Cushman & Wakefield’s research assesses occupancy costs per workstation for prime office space globally, taking into account all workspace costs. Instant said those costs are already included in flexible workspace fees per desk, so this allows a like for like comparison of workstation costs in conventional space and its flexible alternative.